FA Cup: Chelsea v Stoke City match preview

A look ahead to this weekend’s FA Cup fourth round tie at Stamford Bridge

Samuel Eto'o scored a hat-trick to beat Manchester United (Glyn Kirk/AFP/Getty Images)

Juan Mata’s imminent departure to Old Trafford has sparked Chelsea into pushing through a deal for Basel winger Mohammed Salah but the Egyptian international is not expected feature in the FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge. Marco van Ginkel remains a long-term absentee for the Blues and Demba Ba could get the nod to spearhead the Chelsea attack after the club confirmed Fernando Torres would be out for some weeks with knee ligament damage.

Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones could be recalled after being dropped for the Potter’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace at the weekend for refusing to play against Liverpool and new-signing John Guidetti could feature to follow up on his debut from the bench at Crystal Palace.

KICK-OFF: Sunday, 3.30pm

PAST THREE MEETINGS:

Stoke 3 (Crouch, Ireland, Assaidi) Chelsea 2 (Shurrle 2), Premier League, December 2013
Stoke 0 Chelsea 4 (Walters og 2, Lampard, Hazard), Premier League, January 2013
Chelsea 1 (Cole) Stoke 0, Premier League, September 2012

STATS:

Stoke have lost three of their four meetings against Chelsea in the FA Cup, the first of which coming in 1934

Chelsea have scored 22 goals in their previous 10 meetings with Stoke in all competitions

Former Chelsea player Mark Hughes has lost every one of his seven games at Stamford Bridge as a manager, seeing his sides concede 19 goals and score just three times in the process

ODDS:

Chelsea to win: 1.2
Stoke to win: 15
Draw: 6

TV: Live on ITV at 3.30pm